About Chris Petersen

Professionally, I have taught preschool special education for over 44years, and I'm currently in charge of the New Interdisciplinary School's library program. In my free time I love to read, sing in the Northport Chorale, and garden. I also enjoy photography and collecting American pottery. My husband, Steve, and I have a 35 year old son, Jaron, daughter-in-law, Celeste and three grandchildren!

Photography has been my hobby for many years. There's nothing more inspiring than being close to nature while crawling around the garden on a summer day! Nowadays, keeping a photographic record of my garden has been important as tags disappear and I can't keep all that information in my head anymore!

Over the years, I have contributed photographs to the American Hemerocallis Society’s quarterly publication, The Daylily Journal and the Region 4 newsletter. Many of my photographs appear in the books Landscaping with Daylilies, The Open Form Daylily and on the cover of The Illustrated Guide to Daylilies (all written by Oliver Billingslea). On multiple occasions, I have been the recipient of AHS photography awards for pictures of landscapes and/or daylily flowers.Some of my photos have been used in stock photography and in other publications.

I belong to many organizations and botanical garden associations including the American Hemerocallis Society, The American Horticultural Society, Long Island Daylily Society, Bayard Cutting Arboretum, The Tristate Hosta Society and the Asharoken Garden Club. Currently, I’m President of the Long Island Daylily Society, an AHS Garden Judge/ Instructor and an AHS Senior Exhibition Judge/ Instructor.and on the AHS Awards and Honors Committee.